King Orders Son’s Queer Lover to be Cast into Lion’s Den

Emmanuel: 1 1-31 WWJDV

1 In the Kingdom of Wakandah set on seven hills, the girls competed to catch the eye of King Ronald Mwanda’s handsome and only son, Prince Paulo Semugoma. ²But the prince’s eyes coldly floated past their prowling scheming eyes, and he did not invite any girl to his royal suite.

³They started to believe that it was water that flowed in his veins. ⁴Later, a gossip breezed in the hills that the prince engaged in abhorrent practices with Kiyemba, the palace page who liked to recite poetry. ⁵Soon it came to the callous king’s ear and his anger burnt fiercely against his son, and he waited for him to return from hunting.

⁶Mwanda scolded him at the entrance of the palace saying, “You perverted son of a shameful woman, what wicked spirit dwells in you to bring great scorn to my Kingdom?" ⁷So he ordered his guards to throw Kiyemba – who always accompanied the prince – into the lion’s den. ⁸But even before he completed his order, Kiyemba jumped off his horse and ran away faster than the arrows that were pelted at him. ⁹The sun had slept so he easily disappeared in the pitch darkness.

¹⁰A couple of days later, unaccompanied Semugoma finally found Kiyemba hiding in the valley of the hill on the south. ¹¹Kiyemba was hungry and weak, and had two large septic arrow wounds on his buttocks.

¹²Fearing for his own life, Kiyemba dismissed him and forbade him from returning lest the palace dogs track him to the hiding place. ¹³The prince was very distraught as he obeyed his page who was a couple of years older.

¹⁴The following day, when the sun had disappeared behind the hills, Semugoma fooled the palace guards and escaped from the palace with food and medicinal herbs and returned to him. ¹⁵Kiyemba implored the prince to return to the palace after he had fed him and treated him.

¹⁶But Semugoma swiped his finger across the earth then across his wet tongue and said, “By the God of Abraham, the God of Jacob and all our grandfathers, I beseech you not to send me back to my father. ¹⁷From this moment on, where you are, there I will be, where you go, there I will go, where you die, there will I be buried. ¹⁸May the Lord do so to me, and worse, if anything but death should part you and me.” 

¹⁹Kiyemba saw the determination in his face and although he knew that the king must have set his dogs upon the hills already, his lips were sealed. ²⁰There was no safe home in Wakandah where they could go to.

²¹That evening, they set out towards the city where the great Nile river poured out of the ground. ²²But their tribulation was great because Kiyemba was frail, so when they came to the square on the outskirts of Wakandah Kingdom, they lay there for the night.

²³On her way home, a village woman saw the young men who lay on the benches of the square, and they were shivering. ²⁴She asked them, “What brings you to suffer the demons of the night?” 

²⁵There was compassion in her voice so Kiyemba said, “The Prince and I are looking for a place to stay where the king’s men will not find us. ²⁶Prince Semugoma left the palace and has vowed to be with me till death do we part and, by God, it is well with my soul”.

²⁷There was silence and, after several heartbeats, the woman said, “Peace be to you children of God; my husband and I are only a few days old in this land but God forbid that he should reject you to sleep under our roof tonight. ²⁸If that should happen, may my hands grow so short that I, Mary, will not be able to scratch my back”. ²⁹And so she led them to her home, and they washed and ate.

³⁰As they lay down their heads to sleep – before her husband returned, all the men of the kingdom, both young and old, came from all over the hills and surrounded the house. ³¹They were guided by dogs and commanded by Daudi Bahati and the infamous Marteen Ssempa; and they pounded on the door shouting, “Open the door or we shall force ourselves in”.

Click here to read EMMANUEL 2: 1-35 - Jesus Rescues Queer Couple from Mob Justice and Blesses them

Disclaimer: The Book of Emmanuel is divinely inspired through a dream. Any similarities of names of characters in the story to real people is a coincidence, and not based on them.